Sizemore Tigers' rep at Futures Game

Toledo second baseman likely big part of club's picture

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

DETROIT -- Before Scott Sizemore enters the middle-infield picture for the Detroit Tigers, he'll get a chance to check out a big league infield in St. Louis. The Toledo Mud Hens second baseman has been selected as the Tigers organization's representative in next month's All-Star Futures Game as part of Major League Baseball's All-Star Week festivities.

The 11th annual XM All-Star Futures Game, pitting the best Minor League prospects from the United States against the best from the rest of the World, will be held at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on All-Star Sunday, July 12, at 2 p.m. ET. MLB.com will provide complete coverage before, during and after the game, which can be seen live on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD and followed live on Gameday.

For Sizemore, who will play on the U.S. Team, it's the first national honor for someone who could soon end up a big part of the Tigers' picture. The 24-year-old followed up his first Major League Spring Training by batting .307 with 17 doubles, four triples, nine home runs and 33 RBIs for Double-A Erie. He earned a promotion last week to the Mud Hens, where he entered Wednesday batting 8-for-31 (.258) with two doubles, a triple, a home run and three RBIs.

That follows the pattern Sizemore has established at each stop along the Tigers' farm system: He flat-out hits his way up the developmental ladder, showing a little punch and a little speed along the way. Even so, he's on a fast rise after a broken left wrist cost him the final three months of last season at Class A Lakeland, where he was still a midseason Florida State League All-Star.

That progression could eventually earn him a big league job in Detroit, where Placido Polanco is in the final year of his contract.

The Tigers selected the 6-foot, 185-pound Sizemore in the sixth round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft out of Virginia Commonwealth, the same school that produced current Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.